Written by Brett McGuire | 16 October 2010

I would make a really lousy cheerleader. Ask anyone who knows me well.

Last Sunday, or 10/10/10, saw the culmination of a year’s work to raise consciousness around the growing threat of climate change, and to persuade individuals to get involved and help reverse some of the damage. Envisioned by environmental author Bill McKibben’s group 350.org, the event was dubbed a Global Work Party, and by just about any measure it was a rousing success. However, I refer you to my first sentence above when I tell you I am about to poop on your party.

The success or failure of an event, like anything else, depends upon one’s perspective. Bearing this in mind, I should make clear, first and foremost, that the efforts of everyone who volunteers at Hayes Valley Farm, as well as every single person who found themselves part of the organizing efforts on behalf of the Global Work Party, were among the most heroic I have seen in years. There were over 7,000 (yes, that is seven thousand) events taking place in over 180 countries across the globe. In fact, Democracy Now! noted that the events of the day had been described as the largest single organized event on behalf of climate change action in history! The problem I have is that Democracy Now! is an independent news broadcast and, though they are my personal favorite source of information, their reach remains somewhat limited. Looking elsewhere, that is to say, in the corporate media, I would describe coverage of the event as deficient at best. For the sake of clarity, I will rephrase in case it has not sunk in yet. The largest single organized event on behalf of climate change action in history, taking a year to coordinate, went largely unreported by those agencies entrusted to keep us informed about our communities and our planet. One can only assume that it must be more important to try and sell you another car or a box of Tide.

See. Not a cheerleader.

Here is just a sample of our current knowledge of the status of the natural world and climate change, and I do not mean this in the same sense that corporate talking heads with names like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly know things. What I am writing of here is, in general, the product of peer-reviewed, scientific research.

Climate change is a tangible threat.

Since the average American now lags far behind their counterparts in other developed countries in terms of his or her understanding of the threats posed by climate change, a refresher. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, is an agency of over 2,000 scientists, representing over 190 countries around the world. From the agency’s website:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the leading body for the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences.

The IPCC is a scientific body. It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change. It does not conduct any research nor does it monitor climate related data or parameters. Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC on a voluntary basis. Review is an essential part of the IPCC process, to ensure an objective and complete assessment of current information. Differing viewpoints existing within the scientific community are reflected in the IPCC reports.

While it has been reviewing research from these scientists and the countries they represent, and analyzing data related to local weather patterns as well as the global climate for decades, its fundamental conclusions consistently point in one direction: global climate change poses a serious threat to life on earth, and it is anthropogenic-- which is to say, caused by humans--in nature. Despite the lies being told by self-styled doyens like the ones I named above, climate change is real.

Deforestation.

Though we may all be aware of the problem, the extent and impact of deforestation figures from the research community also go largely unreported. In the US alone, since 1620, which is to say the year the Mayflower smacked into what is now Cape Cod, Massachusetts, over 97% of our primary forests have been destroyed. On a global scale, our forests make up part of what we might call the respiratory system of the planet in that they are largely responsible for producing the air we breathe. So, viewing them as nothing but a ‘renewable resource’? Not so smart.

Industrial food production remains one of the single most environmentally destructive forces on earth.

Entire books have been written on this subject, so here I will simply ask you to consider the following in the context of climate change. Most of the food on your plate is grown thousands of miles from where you live, and made it to your plate only because of the forced introduction of petroleum-based chemicals that produce greenhouse gases. In addition to the fossil fuels used to transport all that food, hundreds of different carcinogenic and otherwise lethal poisons that fit into four major categories of chemicals were used: synthetic nitrogen-based fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. These too, make their contributions to climate change, that is, when they are not simply killing everything in their path on their way to our oceans where they do more damage in the form of agricultural runoff.

HIPOC

In 2001, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan sought information on the status of the environment world-wide. The group he formed to compile such a monumental report completed their initial task in 2005, and their findings have come to be known as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Their continuing work and findings have been boiled down to the simple acronym HIPOC, which identifies the five direct drivers of environmental deterioration. They are Habitat change or destruction, invasive species expansion, Pollution, Over-consumption or over-exploitation, and Climate change. Climate change was singled out as the most destructive force of the five identified.

Still with me?

If so, let me remind you that there is always hope for our current predicament. The bar has been set at 350ppm (parts per million) of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere as the maximum safe level best observed if we are to reverse the already worsening effects of climate change. Planet-wide, we are currently hovering around 386ppm, and the number is rising. The last time the earth was determined to be below the 350ppm benchmark was in September 1989.

So, where is the hope?

While I would never presume to speak for everyone involved, I think a great deal of hope can be found at Hayes Valley Farm, and in the events of last Sunday at the Global Work Party. At the farm, we conducted educational workshops in localized, urban agriculture. The Carbon Sequestration Tour focused on the means by which radical changes in the way we grow our food can help reverse the effects of climate change. Plant propagators on site took donations for care packages filled with seedling starts, seed balls, concentrated compost nutrient tea; and visitors left with these care packages armed with the information they needed to increase their food yield even in an environment conspicuously marked by its concrete and automobiles.

The farm gave away hundreds of pounds of donated landscape mulch and compost made on site as a line of cars and trucks snaked its way from the front gates to our makeshift drive-thru filling station. Thus loaded with a few of the essential ingredients for their own gardens, and a renewed commitment to grow more food locally, the drivers of the cars and trucks left smiling like Cheshire cats.

Prior to the festivities, a tour of successful urban gardens that are already in full swing was promoted in the form of a bike ride that visited said gardens and helped the 50 or so riders bear witness to their abundance of fruits and vegetables. Also, it didn’t hurt that the ride was large enough to remind those in their climate change vehicles that there is a better way to get where you are going and enjoy a sunny day.

In the end, over 1,000 people visited Hayes Valley Farm on October 10, 2010. While some may have come just for the music, the free food, or the potluck which fed dozens as the sun was setting, I have no doubt the majority made their way to the site because, unlike our elected officials and the corporate puppet-masters they serve, they see a crisis unfolding in the world, and they arrived ready to do something about it.

That, my friends, is something worth cheering about.

Photo from IPCC, EarthCool, and Hayes Valley Farm on Flickr